Even when Kat Von D promotes her eyeliner, she gets slammed for anti-vaccination stance

Tattoo artist, reality-TV star, and makeup entrepreneur Kat Von D took to Instagram on Saturday to show off her aptly named Tattoo Liner. Paired with her bold brows, blunt bangs, and stick-straight hair, the liner made her look like a modern-day Cleopatra. But while many fans noted that resemblance, a number of others took the opportunity to criticize the mother-to-be for her announcement last month that she was not going to vaccinate her baby after he’s born.

“TATTOO LINER. Still my all-time fave eyeliner,” Von D wrote in the post. “The patented bristle tip was inspired by the precision + fine lines I am able to create using my tattoo machine.”

Among the hundreds of complimentary comments were stinging ones like this, from Antonia: “Omg, love the eye makeup. Whats the name of the eyeliner, ‘polio’?”

Some comments got even more savage.

“The tip of the liner is sharper than a vaccine needle,” @dorians.gay.world quipped.

“Bet the eyeliner will last longer than her baby (eyeliner can’t get measles),” @_.maxipad wrote.

Several, such as @morghaelia, defended Von D’s decision by stating, “Let the woman make her choices for her child! There’s enough information available to everyone, so mind your business and make sure you choose the right ones.”

But others point out that when parents choose not to vaccinate their children, they may be helping to spread previously eradicated diseases, thus risking the lives of other children.

“We vaccinate so that those that medically cannot be vaccinated don’t contract diseases,” @caraxdemarco wrote in a long back-and-forth conversation with another commenter.

All of this echoes the debate that took place when the tattoo artist first announced her decision not to vaccinate on Instagram in June.

“This is my body. This is our child,” Von D wrote.

Her former friend Jeffree Star responded with a tweet and photo mocking her decision, writing, “Here is an actual picture of Kat Von D’s baby when it found out they weren’t getting vaccinated.”

If they follow their planned anti-vaccination route, Von D and husband, Rafael Reyes, would be part of a growing number of parents going against the advice of medical professionals. Their suspicion of vaccines arises mostly from a discredited study done by former doctor Andrew Wakefield that was published in the British journal The Lancet in 1998 and then retracted by that publication in 2010. Using a small, paid sample group, Wakefield tried to prove that MMR vaccines caused autism, just as he had filed a patent for an alternative to the vaccine.

Since the initial study, many others have disproven his theory. Still, the problem has gotten to the point that measles outbreaks have occurred throughout the world, and countries such as Italy have made it illegal to opt out of vaccinations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are some risks of allergic reaction to common vaccines, but the number of severe cases are fewer than four per million. People with allergies to the components of the vaccines or with certain conditions (listed here), should not receive them.

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